


Not How It Ends

by CaseNumber825



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, But first chapter is a scene-insert set during Uprising, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Uprising, to fix the only problem I had with Uprising
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-21 12:59:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14285436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaseNumber825/pseuds/CaseNumber825
Summary: 'The world was safe once more, and he'd had his own hand in ensuring that safety again. However, aside from the relief that came upon receiving the news that the plan had worked, he couldn't feel any joy, or satisfaction, and certainly not warmth that had enveloped him the last time. Instead, as his hand reached out to touch the one-way mirror that separated him from the man inside, he could only feel a sense of unrelenting determination.'Dr Hermann Gottlieb has lost too many years with the man he loves and he won't let the Precursor's take any more from them, despite what the rest of the world may want.But he's going to need all the help and allies he can get. Luckily having the head of a global tech giant and the Secretary-General of the PPDC on your side isn't a bad way to start.





	1. A Close Call

“MAKO!”

Jake Pentecost’s world became little more than a blur as he jumped out of the Jaeger Conn-Pod and through the streets of Sydney towards the rough area he’d seen Mako’s helicopter land. If he’d been in his right mind, he might have taken a moment to worry about leaving his co-pilot behind in a now non-functional Jaeger with a rogue Jaeger ready to strike at any given moment. If he’d been in his right mind of course. But right now all of his attention was focused on what looked like a banged up but relatively intact helicopter and whether Mako had managed to escape with minimal injuries.

Finally he made it and, aside from thinking that maybe he needed to join Nate in the gym on occasion back at the Shatterdome, the first thing he registered was the pilot, unconscious but, after a quick pulse check, unharmed. Then he could finally let out the breath he’d been holding in his burning lungs ever since he'd stopped running when he saw his big sister, semi-conscious, and sporting a nasty cut and lump on her head.

“Thank God” He exhaled, readying himself to start forcing the doors open before he was stopped in his track by the sounds of sirens and multiple cars and trucks. Men and women in full assault gear surrounded him on all sides as two of them broke away to do _the exact thing he was just about to do thank you very much,_ only Jake probably would have gotten it done without all of the fanfare.

“Please stand aside Mr Pentecost, and let the professionals do their job.”

Ah, Liwen Shao, he probably should have guessed. The fear, anxiety and adrenaline he’d felt as he watched the helicopter force land in the middle of a crowded city was likely only equalled by the fear, anxiety and adrenaline that the woman behind him was feeling. They hadn’t met face-to-face often, and the rare occasions it had happened there had been few words between them, but Jake was a master of reading people and it hadn’t escaped his notice just how in love the owner of and brains behind Shao Industries was with his sister.

And no one deserved that sort of undying devotion and love than his sister. After Raleigh Beckett’s unfortunate passing occurred only a year after they had helped save the world and end the war due to health complications brought on from his forced solo Jaeger pilot, Mako has been heartbroken. Having lost both her parents, then her adopted father and then her lover, she mentally shut down and threw herself headfirst into her work with the PPDC, making sure the breach remained closed, making sure the Jaegers being produced were of optimal quality and making sure that the new recruits were being trained to the highest of standards in case the worst were to happen.

Jake didn’t know exactly when they met, he assumed it was at one of Shao Industries tech display events, but he did start noticing a difference in his communications with Mako. She was more open, she smiled more often and talked about things that weren’t just her work with the PPDC and Jake’s own troubles with the law. So regardless of his own relationship with Liwen, he couldn’t help but like her for the light she’s brought back to Mako’s life.

He turned to face her, and the rebuttal he'd prepared about how his title _'was actually Ranger now'_ died on the tip of his tongue. To most of the people surrounding them she probably looked the epitome of professionalism, with her hands clasped behind her back as she stood strong and tall in her impeccable suit, but Jake could see the concern and worry etched into the lines of her face while she kept her eyes glued to the paramedics that were currently easing Mako’s prone form on to a stretcher.

Only once they were both certain that the paramedics had Mako in a position they were happy with, her head in a brace and her body strapped to the stretcher, and they’d moved on to deal with the still unconscious pilot, did they approach her. Liwen’s stature near instantly crumpled and she clasped Mako’s hand with her own, her free hand gently resting on the woman’s shoulder.

“Oh, Mako, I’m so glad you are safe,” She said in a rush, the built up emotions showing through the wobble of her speech and catch in her breath, “I thought – I feared the worst had happened.”

Mako, immobile as she was, attempted to comfort as best as she could, keeping her expression soft and allowing a small smile to play on her lips, “It is okay, I will be okay.” She said, punctuating the words with a minute squeeze to Liwen’s hand.

Jake stood a small ways back, allowing the two lover’s this small moment of reassurance, satisfied in the knowledge of Mako’s safety. When the moment passed, he saw Mako’s attention shift to him and took that as his cue to come closer.

“You still with us then?” He chuckled lightly, his own hand meeting Mako’s free one,

“I couldn’t possibly go anywhere,” She returned with a smile, “Who else would be able to get you out of all the trouble you constantly find yourself in?”

Jake ducked his head, his eyes suddenly swimming with unshed tears as he thought about how close he’d been to losing his only remaining family member, as he managed to choke out his reply, “Yeah, fair”

All too soon Jake was being asked to move away while they loaded Mako in to the back of a nearby ambulance. He barely registered being told what hospital she was going to be taken to and that he was welcome to visit at any time before both Mako and Liwen disappeared from view and the ambulance took off down the road.

 

***

It was two days before Jake had the courage to fly to Sydney again. The word was that Mako was stable and although she woke for brief periods, she still spent most of her time asleep and recuperating. Rumour had it that Liwen had been by her bedside since she was first admitted, leaving the room only briefly to communicate remotely with Dr Geiszler with regards to the goings on at Shao Industries.

He was hoping he’d be able to see Mako without the other woman hovering, things were tense between them at the best of times and now Liwen seemed openly hostile towards him, but sadly things were running smoothly at Shao Industries and Liwen was in her chair next to Mako, hospital standard coffee steaming away in a cup while she scribbled notes on to her holopad. She raised her eyes to meet him as the door to Mako’s room opened, eyebrows furrowing almost immediately to a frown,

“So he finally decides to visit does he?”

Jake sighed, “Look, Liwen, can we not do this right now, I’m just here to see Mako.”

“Of course you are,” Her words were accusatory and Jake waited to find out just what he’d done to upset her, “I assume the PPDC have finally owned up to the fact that it was pilot error that has put Mako here?”

So there it was. Not that Jake wasn’t also beating himself up about what had happened, about not being fast enough, about leaping too soon, about letting the rogue Jaeger get one step ahead of them. It was all stuff he’d gone over and over in his own head, and he was certain that Nate had been having the same thoughts.

“Still,” Liwen continued, eyes glancing down to the screen in her hands, “I suppose it’s for the best”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry, are you hard of hearing?” Jake stayed silent, waiting for the explanation rather than rising to her remarks. The woman had a quick tongue, a sharp wit, and an intellect that was superior to most of the people that surrounded her, Jake hadn’t ever stood a chance in a battle of words with her, and now was no different, “At least now the PPDC will concede to the fact that my drones would have done a better job of disposing of that rogue Jaeger than the farcical effort that you and your co-pilot displayed. I have Dr Geiszler putting the finishing touches to them as we speak. They should be ready for deployment any day now.”

Jake couldn’t help his jaw dropping, “I’ll have you know that without me and Nate the situation would have been 10 times worse than it was. Mako’s still alive isn’t she?”

Liwen stood instantly, slamming the holopad on to the chair she was just occupying and rounded on him, eyes ablaze and he very nearly took a step back, “Yes she is, thanks to her pilot’s training and quick thinking.” Now she was agitated, her composed demeanour quickly vanishing and in its place stood a woman who looked every inch the embodiment of someone that had almost lost the love of their life, “My drones would have prevented all of this. That Jaeger would have been a pile of scrap metal in minutes, and the bastards piloting it would be facing the consequences of their actions now. Instead they are out there planning their next move and it is all your fault-”

It was difficult for Jake to determine whether or not Liwen truly believed everything she was saying, or if it was her fear of the reality of the situation finally getting to her, but before she could finish her reprimand she was interrupted by Mako’s voice, weak but still full of its usual command, “That’s enough Liwen”

The woman in question froze, allowing herself one last glare at Jake before she turned to sit beside her love once again, “I’m sorry, I just - I couldn’t -”

Mako shushed her gently, “I know”, it was nearly a whisper, but loud enough for all the rooms occupants to hear, "But what happened wasn't Jake's fault, we both know this, right?" She was given a bit of the lips and a minute nod, and maybe it wasn't the apology Jake would have like, but it seemed to satisfy Mako. “Now,” she continued, turning her attention to Jake and lifting herself into a sitting position with a nearly inaudible groan, “I have something for you.”

Jake stepped closer as he watched Mako ask Liwen to hand her a small, previously unnoticed bag, from which she quickly produced what looked like a busted holopad and held it out to him expectantly. He took it gingerly, holding it with the tips of his fingers as though afraid it would shatter with the most minimal of movements,

“Ah, this is… great. Thanks?” He fumbled, hoping Mako might offer some explanation, but when he looked from the holopad to his sister she merely looked at him, arms folded across her chest and her face a picture of barely concealed amusement. At least Liwen looked almost as confused as he felt, “You need this repaired then? Cause I think this is a bit too far gone Mako. You maybe should just get a new one.” He finally settled on with a slight shrug of the shoulders, allowing silence to fill the room.

The silence stretched for a few second, before Mako clearly couldn’t hold it in anymore and a bark of laughter escaped her lips, “Sorry,” She managed to say through her giggles, “Both of you, your faces…” More giggles, before she managed to compose herself, “I haven’t laughed that much since I woke up”

“You haven’t been awake for that long” Liwen grumbled, though a small smile played across her mouth. She may not like feeling out of the loop, but the sight of Mako giggling in such a carefree way was enough to placate any feelings of annoyance.

Jake cleared his throat, “So, sis, gonna clue us in at all then?”

“Of course, of course,” Mako sobered, “That holopad contains information about the rogue jaeger. I was trying to send the information before the incident occurred, but unfortunately it was damaged during the attack and my memory is a little hazy,” Her face scrunched up slightly, eyebrows furrowed in frustration at the aforementioned memory blank, “The doctors say it will all come back, but that may happen too late. So I need you to give that to Dr Gottlieb, he should be able to extract the information from its memory banks. I only hope it is still intact.”


	2. Plans Are Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hermann reminisces and is emotionally compromised, Mako comforts and plans, Jake is suspicious and untrusting and Liwen is just there for moral support.

The second war for humanity had been won. Or at least that was what they said. Dr Hermann Gottlieb, head of the PPDC’s K-Science division, knew better though. He could still see the war ongoing from his side of the two-way mirror in the frantic movements of his former co-worker and constant love of his life, Dr Newton Geiszler. With every hateful word, every threat against the lives of everything on this planet that vocalised through the speaker system, he could feel his heart break just that little bit more.

He barely registered his hand moving until he could feel the cold glass against his skin. How he longed to be in that room, to place his hands on Newton’s skin and provide what little comfort he could. But he’d already been told it would be ‘unwise’ to allow him any close contact with the other man. They’d called it ‘an unnecessary’ risk’, claiming that as he’d already drifted once with Newton after his solo-drift with the Kaiju brain fragment he was ‘susceptible to possession’ and they didn’t want to lose his knowledge and experience in their fight to ‘eliminate the threat’.

All Hermann wanted, truly, was to know why he hadn’t notice what was happening and how he could save Newton from the monster’s currently keeping him prisoner inside his own body. He thought back to just after the breach had been sealed and how happy he’d been, his body pressed tight against the infuriatingly brilliant man who he’d been sharing his lab with for years and at some point he’d managed to fall head over heels for (not that he’d have admitted to even himself in all that time), who had looked at him in that moment with such love and affection. He’d let himself believe in a _happily ever after_ for them both, and for a couple of wonderful years it was.

They’d moved in together, after the PPDC had offered jobs to them within K-Science, to study the Kaiju and monitor the breach for any possible signs of activity, essentially what they had always done, but with less urgency. It was perfect, or at least that’s what Hermann had thought. Sure, he’d noticed Newton had become restless and fidgety, but Newton had always been somewhat restless and fidgety and with the lack of new Kaiju samples and a significant decrease in work to help stimulate his remarkable mind, Hermann had assumed it had all just combined to exacerbate the restlessness. He’d almost not been surprised when Newton had declared his intention to hand in his notice with the PPDC after receiving an offer of work within the Private Sector.

The fact that the job offer meant he’d have to move away and that this didn’t seem to bother Newton, well Hermann was proud enough to admit that that had stung a large amount. They never officially called off their relationship though and met with each other often… at least at first. Then it was less often. Then it was just video calls. Then it was just standard calls. In fact it had been more than a year from Hermann’s last conversation with Newton until the time they’d met again just before Shao’s drone demonstration.

And Hermann had known that something was wrong, that Newton wasn’t acting like the Newton he loved. But he had been just so hurt by the distance the man was putting between them, that he’d thrown himself in to his work with the PPDC and used the knowledge he’d learnt from Newton to take on, essentially, both roles. And now, as he watched the man that had haunted his every waking though (and a large amount of the unconscious thoughts), he could only wish that he’d been more observant, pushed more when he suspected a problem, questioned Newton’s more erratic and unexplainable behaviour.

“Dr Gottlieb,” Hermann is startled out of his thoughts by the voice of the security guard outside the solitary cell block. She sounded exasperated and perhaps she was, he had been in here for some time and given that they weren’t all convinced that he wasn’t also ‘infected’ in some way, maybe he could understand. It didn’t mean he had to like it though. “Dr Gottlieb, I really must ask you to leave now-”

“Ms Liu, could you give us a moment?”

Hermann let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in, still torn between arguing with the security guard or acquiescing to her request, and he let himself relax once more.

“Should you really be up and about with a head injury?”

He heard Mako step next to him in front of the glass, unable to tear his eyes away from the brightly lit cell-cum-interrogation chamber.

“You sound like my doctors,” there was a slight amusement to her tone and Hermann could only imagine the doctors struggles to keep Mako resting as long as they did, “Besides, should you really be torturing yourself like this?”

Hermann looked down briefly, swallowing around the quickly formed lump that had appeared in his throat, “I haven’t stopped loving him Mako”

He felt her hand rest gently on his shoulder and blinked rapidly against the moisture in his eyes before focussing his attention back on Newton, who’d stopped all semblance of movement, the room, Hermann realised, sounded suddenly eerily quiet, almost as though he’d just shut down. He had to suppress his urge to rush in there and check on the body strapped down in the chair, to prove to himself that there was still breath in those lungs and blood pumping through those veins. Newton still needed a body to come back to after all.

“What will you do, Hermann,” Mako started, her voice soft but uncertain and hesitant before she cleared her throat, “What will you do if he’s not in there anymore?”

Now Hermann turned to face her, shrugging the previously comforting hand as though it had burnt him, “He is still in there Mako. Of that, at least, I am certain” His glare was as cold and hard and steel, but Mako stood her ground, holding her own until Hermann let himself relax once more, “You didn’t hear him”

“What do you mean?”

Hermann sighed and leaned heavily on his cane, “Back at Shao Industries, during the drone attack, when I realised what was happening and I confronted them,” He took a shaky breath, his mind casting him back to that horrible moment, “They tried to use Newton’s body to kill me and I remember while it was happening, hearing Newton’s voice, _my_ Newton’s voice, not that parody of Newton that’s been parading around for God’s knows how long. He was apologising and he confirmed that they were in his head,” He shook his head lightly, to bring himself out of his own head, “I’ve never heard him sound so scared, Mako, and I will die before I let them take him from me for good.”

Mako stayed silent for a moment, and Hermann knew she was having to school the pity out of her face. He was thankful for it, he didn’t need pity right now.

“Okay,” She said, finally, “We’ll save him.” There was an air of confidence to her tone that made Hermann feel as though at least a small fraction of weight had been taken off his shoulders. She glanced down at the watch on her wrist, nodded to herself once, then to him she said, “Right, you go and find both Liwen and Jake and take them to my office in one hour.”

Mako was faster than Hermann had given her proper credit for. One moment she’d given him orders, then before he’d had time to process them and question her, she was already half way down the corridor. So, with a sigh and one last longing look back at the still unmoving form of Newton, he straightened himself up and proceeded to follow Mako out of the cells.

He’d barely made it two steps towards the door when from behind him he heard, “See ya later, dear Hermiekins”, in a sickly sweet parody of the voice he loved that sent shivers down his spine. Managing to resist the urge to acknowledge the monsters, he squared his shoulders and took off as quickly as he was able to, ignoring the sympathetic, pitying looks he received from the people he passed who knew his history with Newton.

***

He chose to find Liwen first, she tended to frequent the same places routinely since Shao Industries had been temporarily shut down (there was, after all, no way of knowing how much the Precursors had interfered with things) and if she wasn’t with Mako, she was usually discussing Jaeger upgrades with Jules and Amara. Which was exactly where he found her,

“Ah, Dr Gottlieb,” She greeted with a smile. Of course, there was the secondary reason he chose her first, and that was simply that he got along with her better than Mako’s younger brother, “Just the person I was hoping to see, you see I’m putting together a way to combine the speed of Sabre Athena, with the raw power of Guardian Bravo, because we don’t want any of the jaeger’s to have a disadvantage if they are separated, you know, and I think I’ve just about finalised the plans but-”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to stop you for a moment,” Hermann interjected quickly, he was sure her plans and designs were as good to go as usual, but right now saving Newton was far more important, “Mako has requested that you, Jake and I are to meet her in her office shortly”

Liwen raised an eyebrow, “Did she say why?”

Hermann gulped lightly and hesitated in his response, unsure of whether to say out loud that Mako seemed to have a plan to free Newton. Liwen watched the man in front of her have an internal argument and decided to spare him the dilemma, “It’s okay Dr Gottlieb, if Mako has called for us then it must be important, yes?” to which Hermann nodded with a degree of enthusiasm.

“Now we just need to find Mr Pentecost”

“Oh, I can probably help you there” Oh, yes, Jules and Amara, Hermann had nearly forgotten that Liwen had been talking to them before he’d arrived,

“Yes, Ranger Namani?”

“Yeah, it’s Amara, please, I hate that ‘titles’ crap,” She protested, “It’s like, I fought in one battle, that hardly qualifies as a full-blown ranger, you know what I mean?”

Hermann shrugged, silently willing her to get to the point, “There are some that would disagree, but very well, Amara, if you could?”

“He went off towards to the kitchens with Nate,” She replied,

“That was 45 minutes ago, though” Jules countered, “They might not be there anymore”

“Perhaps, but if I know those two, it’s probably taken them two arguments to get there, three disagreements to decide on what food to make, and a further six or seven weirdly complimentary jabs at each other while they made whatever they’re planning to eat,” Amara finished with her arms crossed as though she’s made some great point, “so you’ll probably find they’re just sitting down to eat now”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jules suppress a laugh behind her hand and was almost thankful to have Liwen stand next to him in order to thank the girl and lead him towards the kitchens,

“Might want to knock on the door though,” Amara called after them, “You never know what you might walk in to!” To which Hermann vaguely heard Jules reply with a scandalised, “Amara!” as they moved further away from J-Tech.

“Don’t mind her,” Liwen said gently, “As far as most people here are concerned, the threat is now contained” She spoke lightly, as though afraid of offending him and Hermann should have known that Mako would have informed her of exactly what Hermann and Newton’s past was, “Their lives can go on as normal.”

Hermann hummed in a way that could be interpreted as agreement or nonchalance, and he found that he didn’t very much care to give any further comment on how anybody else’s lives were going.

The rest of the walk to the kitchen was made in a companionable silence and, heeding Amara’s warning, they paused before entering the room. Surprisingly it was peace and quiet that greeted them when they walked in and they quickly located Jake rummaging through the freezer,

“Jake,” Liwen called out, “could we borrow you for a moment?”

Jake continued to rummage through the freezer, and if he felt any surprise at hearing his own name being called by his sister’s girlfriend he didn’t show it, “Yeah, yeah, sure” He waved them off, “But could it wait just a moment, I haven’t eaten all day and I’m starving, you know-”

Liwen folded her arms across her chest before cutting him off, “No Jake,” leaving no room for arguments in the tone of her voice, “This is an urgent request from Mako”

_Oh clever,_ Hermann thought, even he knew that using the words ‘urgent’ and ‘Mako’ in the same sentence was a sure-fire way of kick-starting Jake in to gear. And it worked. Well, sort of at least. It definitely made Jake remove himself from the freezer’s vicinity and turn to face them,

“What, like, _urgent_ urgent?” He reiterated, to which both Hermann and Liwen promptly furrowed their eyebrows in confusion as a response. Jake rolled his eyes, “Like, she’s found a way to get to the percursors, type of urgent?”

Hermann and Liwen shared a look before Hermann replied, “Well, sort of?” He tried, again not wanting to give away too much. His hopes were dashed somewhat, though, when Nate stood up from his place at one of the tables,

“Surely if it’s to do with the precursors we should all be in on this meeting, right?” He had a point, Hermann supposed, but it wasn’t quite as cut and dry as that, and then he continued, “We were all a part of that battle, so we all have a right to know what the next plan is?”

He reminded Herman, briefly, of when he’d first met Raleigh. A person that was so sure of what they were and what they stood for that it was difficult to argue with them. Not that that had stopped Newton. And he recalled Newton’s first impressions of Raleigh ‘ _what a jerk that guy was!’_ Beckett and then before he could get too lost in his own memories, he felt Liwen nudge him lightly with her shoulder,

“Dr Gottlieb?”

“You alright there, Doc?” Jake asked and Hermann noticed the three faces of equal concern facing him,

“Yes, sorry, I’m fine,” He took a breath before addressing Nate, “I’m sorry Ranger Lambert, but I’m afraid this is a somewhat more personal problem.” There, that was vague enough and yet left no room for more questions. He hoped.

Jake stilled and looked at the two of them suspiciously, “‘A personal problem’?” He queried and upon receiving simply a nod from Hermann, because he couldn’t let him know yet, and no reply at all from Liwen, because she actually didn’t know what the meeting was about, he sighed and put a hand on Nate’s shoulder,

“Right, fine, let’s go then, Mako’s office yeah?” He said to the scientists, and with Hermann’s nod as clarification and with a last look at Nate that Hermann assumed meant something along the lines of ‘I’ll let you know later’ he strode off out of the kitchen. Hermann and Liwen gave Nate a quick, polite, goodbye and rushed off to catch up with him.

They managed to catch up and the walk to Mako’s office continued in an awkward silence, Hermann and Liwen glancing at each other every so often in mild confusion. Finally they reached the door and before entering Jake whirled on Hermann,

“I have a niggling suspicion about what this meeting is about,” He said, and Hermann struggled to get a gauge on his thoughts, “And if it is what I’m thinking then you better have a damn good reason for it, cause there are a lot of people out there, me included, who would like nothing better than to see the man in those cells six feet under right about now.” Hermann felt as though a bucket of ice had been poured down his spine, and yet before anyone could say anything, Jake continued, “Now I don’t know what the history is between you, but to suggest that we don’t put a bullet in that man’s head after he stops being useful to us is going to piss a lot of people off. I’m not saying that I’m not willing to listen if you’ve got your reasons, but like I said, they better be some damn good reasons.”

Jake was through Mako’s door before Hermann to fully process what he’d just said. He knew that Jake wasn’t in the minority here. He’d come to terms with the fact that a lot of people wanted the man he loved dead, but to have it spoken to matter-of-factly to his face affected him in a way he’d not anticipated. He gripped his cane tightly in one hand as he felt his breathing quicken and moisture begin to gather in his eyes. Damn it all, he used to be so much better at keeping his emotions in check.

Distantly he felt the sensation of a hand on his back, and then another curl around his shoulder,

“It’s okay, Hermann,” it was Mako, having returned just in time from whatever task she’d done, “He just doesn’t know okay,” her tone was comforting, as she took control of the situation, “Once he understands he’ll be on board, you’ll see”

He could feel the small circles she was rubbing on to his back and allowed himself to relax as her words soothed his frenzied thoughts. Once he felt he’d composed himself well enough he nodded once to her and followed Jake in to her office.

Mako watched him for a moment before turning her attention to Liwen, “You ready?”

Liwen wrapped an arm around Mako’s waist lightly before pulling her in closer to speak in a hushed tone, “I don’t know what you’re planning, qīn ài de, but I hope it helps.”

Mako sighed lightly, “Yes, so do I, it’s better to try something, than to leave things as they are”

The younger woman pulled her lover in for a proper hug and spoke softly in to her ear, “Whatever happens, you know that I am always with you, yes?”

Mako squeezed her back, breathing in her comforting scent before pulling away to look her in the eyes, “Of course I do” She replied, lightly, before pressing their lips together in a brief, but soft, kiss. They pulled away from each other and Mako extended her arm towards the door, “After you” She quipped, receiving a playful tap on the arm before following Liwen through the door to start a meeting that would hopefully be the first step in fixing this mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a large portion of this chapter is for exposition and mild retcon. It's necessary because I refuse to believe that Hermann and Newt spent the full ten years away from each other. Nope, those two were basically married and the 'problems' came on slowly. That is now my canon.
> 
> Also I've decided that Hermann and Liwen are the gay/lesbian solidarity we need in this franchise.
> 
> Un-beta'd


End file.
